USA (MNN) — This weekend is Super Bowl Sunday in the United States. While it’s about American football, key government leaders say much more takes place, and it isn’t good.
Last February, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot shocked Americans when he called the Super Bowl “the single largest human trafficking incident in the U.S.”
This week, human trafficking legislation had bipartisan support.
U.S. Congressman Tim Walberg of Michigan helped lead the debate in Congress on human trafficking legislation (U.S. House photo).
U.S. Congressman Tim Walberg of Michigan helped lead the debate on the floor this week that helped pass 12 anti-human trafficking bills. “They hit the issues relative to the agencies, departments, homeland security, law enforcement, welfare, human service providers that come in contact with this issue and beefing up their ability to deter and detect.”
This legislation will also help private citizens identify the problem.
Will it curb Super Bowl sexual exploitation? Walberg says, “It can’t help but help. The idea of being able to train people to profile–I mean, that’s what we’re actually talking about, profiling–human trafficked victims as well as traffickers is an important component part of this legislation.”
Donna Abbott with Bethany Christian Services works with refugee and immigrant victims. She says the welfare part of the program will help victims. Why? “Remember, everything that they’ve had has been taken from them or removed from them, and so once they are identified, they need services: housing, clothing, food, and help with employment.”
Bethany shares the love and compassion or Christ as they help. “They’ve been tortured by others, and we hope that the love and compassion we saw as a Christian community will come through to them. With more victims identified and referred for services, there will be the need for more resources.”
Abbott says this legislation will help Bethany do more training, raise awareness, and provide the resources needed to help victims.
The bipartisan legislation moves to the Senate for consideration. Bipartisan support is expected there. It’s unclear it the president will sign the legislation if it makes it that far.
How awful…it this the 21 century. More slaves than ever before..more persecution..yet all these phobia. this and that.. . But only for the loud minority…its really not unbiased…what hypocrocy..where are the so called advocates….good job..
Christians make a difference…
God’s people(Christians) are often guilty of doing nothing, though we have been given so many resources: spiritual weapons, a higher calling, and most of His Grace and Love. May the fire of His strength and grace that both you and I feel in our souls, drive us to pure submission of His true will and purpose for our Lives. Your thoughts reminded me of these lyrics:
I thought, “God, why don’t You do something?”
Well, I just couldn’t bear the thought of
People living in poverty
Children sold into slavery
The thought disgusted me
So, I shook my fist at Heaven
Said, “God, why don’t You do something?”
He said, “I did, I created you” -Matthew West
Thank you so much Congressman Walberg for your work in helping the victims of human trafficking.
I am a college student preparing to enter the counseling field. I also serve in the Epiphany ministry where we go into the juvenile justice system and share the gospel with adolescents, some of which are coming out of human trafficking.
I am very passionate about helping these precious victims and I am very excited about the work you are doing to help curb this devastating problem that is destroying so many lives.
May God continue to bless your efforts.
Williams Jody I get really bothered by this because “true” trafficking rings don’t go anywhere near the Super Bowl. If you look at the arrests over the last few years – it’s become a self-fulfilling prophecy and the people who are coming there now are just crazy pedophiles and child abusers who hear this type of news and go “oh that’s an idea how I can peddle the girl down the street” and they’re off. That’s sad and should be stopped and there are plenty of people already in place in these towns where the SB happens each year to address these issues. But what you do when you say it’s happening somewhere “else” is you take your eyes off where it’s happening in your home town. I’ve been writing to the authorities in California for two years now trying to get them to do something about the head of a huge trafficking ring that’s also involved in drugs, extortion, counterfeiting, porn, and that’s even spreading disease – and they do nothing. But everyone uses resources, time, energy, focus to run down to the SB to catch or two pedophiles who are so stupid they don’t know all the eyes are on that event now each year. If you really want to do something about a horrible ring that’s so bad that the three arrests we helped to get last year in Wichita against some of these pimps in this ring – they threatened to kill the judge and the arresting officer (might be why no one in CA wants to talk to me about arresting the head of the operation) – then join with me in putting pressure on the authorities here to do something. When I wrote the CA US Attorney’s office in December demanding to know what she’s going to do about shutting this ring down – she announced a few weeks ago that she’s going to run for senate, i.e., she’s not only bailing on the issue but she’s now taking campaign contributions. This ring is trafficking women and children in just about every major city of the USA every day of the week right now and has been since 2005. They’re also extorting the “johns” that come through the parlors in the six figures – and if they threaten to go to the police – the police are threatening them. Something needs to be done to shut THIS RING DOWN. http://www.sexworkersanonymous.com